fuck. I honestly think my Sadlers' Wells trips are cursed. No-one can sodding make it.

:deep breath: I've got 3 tickets, row L (mid-stalls, great view) for Dorian Grey (Matthew Bourne production) at 7:30 on saturday. They were £39.50 but I'm willing to let them go for £30 or best offer.

Anyone?

those of us going to this - what time meeting? where?

Regarding The Saturdays' album. have now listened to the entire thing. Most of the songs are actually quite decent. Appears miracles do occasionally happen with pop albums. Who knew?

Oh, and I found out that if you search for the delicious add-on on mozilla and re-start immediately it'll install on 3.5 - not so the one on the delicious website. Now twiddling thumbs until a non-ugly minimalist skin that works with 3.5 comes up. Also, any verdict on google chrome? I despise having to use ie as a back-up when firefox is being odd/in the middle of loading something massive.

going jogging with numb feet is a *really* weird sensation. and it takes a good five minutes (first part of the run) for them to stop being numb. throws you off somehow.

reworking plots is a bit odd. As in 'same plot, but we're inserting other characters and re-writing it so some of what was commentary is now dialogue'. Never done this before - I've re-written stories from other povs before, or taken the basic ideas and done interesting things to them that made them squeal, but never re-written something to be the same, just more fleshed out.

Outlook died on me (turned out to have been a version that tried to update and failed, leaving me with two dll files which greatly confused it). So in the quest for worksafe entertainment, I went looking up bsg stuff. one hour later : So. Bored. (boss had said she'd email IT, and if they didn't reply in an hour, phone them. She never told me that they hadn't replied, and it also turned out they never received said email. She now insists that she'd told me to phone them straight off. :strangle:)

So, new whatsit : wikipedia v. good for entertainment purposes when it's real life historical and science and so on (let me tell you of the lunchtimes I've lost to following the links in the tudor, stewart and plantagenet history section. 'oh, so this person was shagging... huh, and it turns out they're the great granny of...'). Dull as ditchwater when it comes to fictional.

Wish to hit Firefox. With the new comp, I dl'd the latest version, 3.5, which'd been working on previous comp. had made a list of all the themes/add-ons that make my life easier. And it turns out that if said add-ons haven't been updated for 3.5 and you're *starting* with 3.5, it won't bloody install them, even though they were working fine if you'd previously updated from an old version. Now that's a fucking stupid bug. Because firefox updates faster than the poor sods who make these nice little add-ons.

:eyeroll: save me from crash dieters who don't believe that your body weight and shape changes as you get older. And when you try to point out that it does and there's probably a reason why you can't shift those inches, you're told you're not being sympathetic. Never mind that she's been pretty consistently an 8-10 for a year since she left uni.

'I'm not snacking, I'm exercising, I'm eating salad and soup and it's still not going!' (she's now going on the Atkins. Suggesting that she might as well do any diet that is less calories than your supposed to be intake was shot down and wailed at. As was my suggestion that if she's really that desperate, she should go on the drink and piss diet.)

Seriously. It's so bloody boring when they start calorie-obsessing. I'm constantly told to shut up when I point out that I don't calorie count and eat what the hell I want because this is clearly being smug, rubbing it in and not helping. Even when I point out why I can do this : there's this magical thing called exercise. My route home involves approx 4 miles of walking that I have no choice about. (They also say that I have a great figure with no problems, even when I point out that I'm a 12 and they're 10s. And yes, I'd like my stomach podge and some of my thighs and arse to go. It'll go gradually if I increase the jogging and didn't eat chocolate. Which I'm realistic in accepting is not likely to happen anytime in the near future.)

And before you ask, yes, these are the kind of people who'll debate the merits of diet coke vs. coke zero because coke zero has half a calorie less... and then go eat crisps or cake-type snacks. And ice cream. And yes, miss Atkins appears to forget that she has been eating crisps and ice cream this past week. Suspect pointing this out would elicit screaming, though.

You may have heard this rant before.

anyone got The Saturdays' album? is it good enough to buy the entire album or is it like unto several other albums where the singles are good but everything else is distinctly average? (looking at you, Lady Gaga and Alphabeat) I feel I've been spoiled by musicals where all the songs have to stand up to scrutiny rather'n being shoved in as filler, bought unseen. Asked if anyone had heard the album.
Tom : 'Is that the fit birds?'
'Yes, Tom, it's the fit birds.'
' Can't stand their music.'

out of curiosity, I tracked down Journey on youtube due to the sheer amount of pop culture refs I've been hearing recently and having no bloody idea who they were.

I was happier not knowing. Status Quo soft rock, anyone? Turns out I know the chorus of one of their songs, which sounds almost like it should be adorning an 80s coke advert.

Managed to slam forefinger and thumb in patio door last night. Owwwwww. results: blood blister on finger and thumb I can't put pressure on directly.

In other news, Kings is busy killing me dead with awesome. Why hello, David. Yes, you spending the entire ep dirty and briuised is not at all a turn-on compared with your usual pristine. And feel free to start having an idea of your power and the confidence to use it without thinking.

Rose? Please keep being ruthless. Jack? ...I didn't think it was possible for someone to cry that much but still have me wanting to pat them on the head and say 'go forth and keep being you, darling.' Also, show : WHEN DO WE GET JACK/DAVID SNOGGAGE, DAMMIT?

...dammit. The narnia pevensie parents appears to be going absolutely nowhere. Every time I open it, I just stare at it and close it again. Trying to think of other stuff I can do, since am in complete creative drought re: clothing, writing, everything else. i want to do some stuff, can't think of owt to do.

Thinking through snippets I have hanging around the notebooks. What's available :

Ianto and Jack relationship as something different to what we see on screen.
-Looks interesting, but can't think how the hell I woudl do this now, since S2 pretty much gave me everything I wanted for that kind of thing.

Jack Harkness, head of Torchwood 1
- oooo. Hmm. Probably done from Ianto POV. This might have possibilities. Kind of requires a plot, though, and seeing if anyone else has done something similar so I don't cross the streams - or at least check throguh it to see what I do/don't want to do/ what doesn't work.

Jack and Ianto Beauty and the Beast
- yes, the cliché lover in me is alive and well. Absolutely no idea how I'd do it to make it interesting rather'n a complete re-tread of the Disney version. (anyone who cites the original fairy tale as an alternative, I start going LALALALALA. *Much* prefer the Disney. for a start, Belle has a brain and initiative and a sense of humour. And there is also Gaston.)

Jack Harkness investigating the Circle towns
- this one... I was considering doing it for nano, since it's a universe I've been working on for ages off and on (regular visitors, it's the 'towns that have to live with being guardians for the entrances to the Summer Country') but as I've never really been able to get a stable plot out of it, but considerably less than 50k might work better, and I can keep it more outsider POV. Circle towns, off the scale in magic/weird readings/ley lines. Death rate and parish records of the WTF. Yet it's never been investigated/checked on. So you get Torchwood going 'hellllloooooo NURSE' and sending Jack to investigate. I was thinking maybe 1920s? And would I send mr. expendable on his own or with another Torchwood person (who of course regards Harkness as a loose cannon, etc, etc)

apparently I'm getting a new computer today. fingers crossed.

Jules? JULES, SOMEONE WROTE JIM/KARA. And it is GLORIOUS.

Looking for the dreamers trek/bsg, Thursday night, and Jim really fucking wants a drink and a lay. Chance meetings and common threads.

Out there is Bones the Cylon fic. Dammit. this means I've now been officially been spoiled rotten. I suddenly have hankering for Helo and Jim to be kicking back and relaxing in the bar. or at a ball game, or something-fic.

Watched Pride and Prejudice. This of course required rewinding several scenes about three times. With the chant of '1, 2, 3, KNEE' during Bingley's proposal. I'm not sure if this means that I've watched this or the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility too much. It's one of them. Then, because I was feeling masochistic, I watched the US ending. and then went into catatonic 'AUGH' mode, rocking back and forth. Just so wrong. Wronger than I remember. Mind you, I'd forgotten how long the tracking shots are in this - some masterpieces of timing in this, since they move from room to room and all the characters move in and out of the shot. must track down some more Joe Wright films to see how much he does this. And to see if he ever defeats Serenity for ridiculously long tracking shot.

Well, today started interestingly. Woke up at 9 to put some laundry in, went back to bed and slept fitfully until 11 (which was a bit later than I meant) had shower, put muffin on to toast, went to hang out laundry, smelt the toast... and spent the next two hours throwing up water.

Lovely. Still can't figure out why.

Once throwing up was finished, delivered a smackdown on the whiners who'd spoiled *themselves* and were whining about having done so on the Robin Hood comm, and went off to the pangbourne fete. (tombolas, tea, band, barbecue, dragon boat racing, etc) Morris dancers had been replaced by viking re-enactors, who I spent a while chatting to. Watched their fighting. Of the opinion that Morris men are scarier, more violent, and aren't sober like the vikings were.

It also appears that the welly-throwing is a test of masculinity. Or at least it became one. A couple of blokes did it for a laugh, and then more and more of them lined up, with resultant cheering and mocking laughter from their girlfriends and mates. The egg-throwing, ont eh other hand, appears to be more luck than skill.

Haul : strawberries, hot dog, large bag of fudge, toffee and nougat, a bracelet, and a dvd - 'The Heart of Me', a Paul Bettany/Helena Bonham Carter/Olivia Williams film I've been curious about since seeing a vid for it ages ago. Apparently the film is very average, but still curious.

I was desperate. Chris Pine compelled me and I was curious. ANYWAY.

I'm only on page 4/22, but *wow*. Jules, 90% of the Princess Diaries film-fic is Clarisse/Joe. HOW IS THIS NOT AWESOME? (with an occasional Mia/Nicholas, Mia/Andrew, and 'Mia's daughter has the most awesome life OHAI')

pondering about re-visiting one of my old fic 'verses. originally, standard superhero girl meets boy - they like each other in masks, meet at party, it's bloody obvious who they are, so there was no barrier to getting together in RL.

Have since been on a jag of listening to the Zorro ST. (this version is based on the Isabel Allende book, which I really have to get around to reading...) Which has the old-skool Lois and Clark device where she likes Zorro but thinks Diego is an useless prat. And now pondering if I could do that and how feasible it would be. I have a couple of factors on my side here :

Girl has been blind in RL due to measles since she was tiny. (parents into homotherapy etc and didn't get her vaccinated.) When her powers kicked in they were spectrum-related, so she can 'see' heat and uv and so on, so she can see shapes but not colour, and can figure out dark and light due to the heat refraction and intellectually knows that the cooler light on traffic lights is the 'green' one. Just not what you'd call 'normal' vision. Think Daredevil. Current generation of masks is new enough on the scene that no-one's figured out she's blind aside from her sister.

So. Er. Taking into account Matt Murdoch, how feasible would it be for Boy to not figure out that the superhero he thinks is an arrogant bitch is the blind girl he really likes who keeps blowing him off? (she thinks he's an arrogant jerk no matter what) How plausible a distraction would the blind factor be when you know the person in both personas?

have sniffles. this seems to mostly result in scratchy throat and my ears not popping post blowing nose. gah.

I rather like chris-pine.org. When categorising by photoshoot, they don't say 'vogue oct 2009', they try whenever possible to list the photographer first. damn that boy's pretty. and now I find out he's a major theatre bod. CURSES.

Very, very amused by the proliferation of ontd communities for everything from politics to trek. Newbies will come across them and go 'but...but...why are they called ontd?' And in the case of that RPS'er in trek, not get that its basis is gossip.

Finally finished North and South. FSM, that was a slog. lift out all the internal monologues and kick Margaret a few times and it's a decent story. TV series did very well on the dialogue and dramatising scenes we're only told about.

Rather fascinating piece on childhood and its place in evolution on Frontiers on iplayer. Humans being unique even amongst apes of how long it takes us to be capable of feeding ourselves, speed of weaning and age of adulthood/full growth. Chimps, it's 12, humans, it's about 19. And chimps don't have that adolescent growth spurt. They think it's something to do with the time it takes for brains to develop, and the faster weaning means more spawn over what's pretty close to the same fertility period.

:pokes womb: so far today, you have only been twinging and vaguely achey, thus not needing the heatpads. You may live.

According to Ri, someone she met at a party is involved in the casting of Going Postal. Moist is apparently an unknown, but Adora Belle Dearheart is down to Michelle Ryan, Claire Foy, and someone she can't remember. Foy apparently tested better but I've only seen her play scared bunny/wet (George's gf in Being Human pilot, Little Dorrit). Personally preferring Michelle Ryan for ability to play Random's alter-ego.

Craving Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Princess Diaries 2 fic. Priscilla, I've found four bits on yuletide. Want more. Not sure where to get it. PD2... I suspect there's half a tonne on the Pit o' Voles, but I have allergies. and am really bloody lazy - sifting for that one fic per page that doesn't have exclamation marks, Please R&R or mary sues in the subject is more than fangirlkind was meant to bear.

Pubmeet peeps buttonholing me to ask what's going on with Alex. Me 'I don't bloody know!'. Suspect them of living vicariously through gossip.

http://s3fm.co.uk/permanentbedtime - Shipping forecast and the end music for Radio 4. you are feeling verrrrrry relaxed. Slightly dangerous for work-time.

Someone stuck up a photo on facebook of me in Ursula Andress outfit from a 007 night a few years ago. Would be interested to see what I'd look like now in it, since I've been doing the jogging.

HEE. Saw Priscilla : Queen of the Desert last night and it is utterly, utterly fab. Way too much fun. More ridiculous costumes, spangles, bitchery and singalong tunes you could not ask for. Barely anything changed from the film, aside from more musical numbers and the Abba refs being changed to Kylie ones due to the musical being several years on from the film (oh, and Mamma Mia already using 'em).

Jason Donovan as Tick... not bad, but barely any voice to speak of. Playing the straight man sandwiched inbetween the utterly fucking fabulous Tony Sheldon as Bernadette and Oliver Thornton as Felicia. Tony oozes style, class and middle-aged trannie grace and femininity, and Oliver? Steals the fucking show by being queeny, bitchier than thou, selfish, hideously bendy, half nekkid and doing quite a bit of rather fab singing. Bob is lovely. And him + Bernadette were producing so many 'awwww's from the crowd.

Reading Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. Partly in a challenge to self to see if I can make it through a classic C19th novel that I love and adore the adaptation of. (Dickens, I can't get past the first page without chucking it across the room in exasperation with his sodding bogged-down prose. Austen, I never seem to get past the first page without someone grabbing me, so have no idea.) It's definitely readable, though slow going.

However, the writers have definitely changed it quite a bit. Same basic plot so far, but most of the religious stuff (discussion and religiousness of various characters) is cut out. Beginning scenes in Helston that show what day-to-day life was like're completely scrapped due to being pretty much extraneous. In general it's far more streamlined. Lot less self-doubt/inner turmoil on behalf of Margaret, and it's made clearer much earlier that Mrs. Hale is really sick rather than just mildly depressed, and it's a pre-existing condition. Mr. Thornton? Far, far less physical. (that intro in the factory scene doesn't exist, and nor do any of the other inside the factory scenes, and you get very little general impression of Milton itself) Really somewhat peeved that the Higgins family (Bessy and Nicholas) are nowhere near as interesting in the book, and that Margaret's relationship with them and the workers is far more peripheral. Bessy's got bugger all character aside from being ill and dying and looking forward to the kingdom of heaven. Nicholas you only see in glimpses for the most part as a permanently angry overworked union man, but you don't get any sense of the union itself, and Margaret knows bugger all about the strike even coming. Waiting to see if Nicholas' character changes much now that Bessy's dead and the strike's all but over. Boucher's weakness is really peripheral. Interestingly, the female Thorntons and Dixon are identical to the book. Guess they're easier to translate to this day and age.

Somewhat of a weird experience. Most of the adaptations where I've read the book, I read the book *way* before the adaptation. (Jungle Book, Discworld, Skellig, LOTR, Harry Potter, Fight Club) Had the characters pretty firmly fixed in my head and was less irritated when they got changed/cut because the book was still there, and would be quite pleased if they went to the effort of expanding or making something make more sense (see Narnia films). Now I've got a case of '...this is somewhat disappointing'.

But anyway, TRAILER OF SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE : "Paul Bettany Kills God As Charles Darwin: New "Creation" Movie." http://yttwt.com/kug9v (added bonus of Jeremy Northam as a clergyman. Heather may need time in her bunk.)

in fiction, it's very common to describe someone's eyes 'going dark' during arousal/stimulation/blood loss/loopiness/drugs/etc, because of how most people's pupils expand in these situations.

So, as an owner of permanently wide pupils (no, really - in utterly bright light, my pupils shrink to normal people's 'wide'. Normally, it's thin ring of iris colour around bloody great pupils.) does this mean i look permanently stimulated or about to head off the deep end?

oh, that was special

my mouse is acting up. I need a new one. Due to some extremely stupid bad posture a couple of years ago, I screwed up tendons in my shoulder and hand to the point that I can't use a normal mouse (buttons operated with first two fingers) at work for more than five minutes without being in pain. I need a trackball that gets with big ball in middle, buttons operated by thumb and little finger, which everyone refers to as my Star Trek mouse. (usual trackball mice, you still have to operate with first two fingers)

So, request a new one. They ask me for the type and model number. I hunt it down, manager sends in request. Today, package. Open it, and... it's the bog standard trackball mouse. They clearly read 'trackball' and couldn't be arsed to read any further even though they'd specifically requested model number and type. Best bit, though? I did a google on the mouse they'd sent me. On amazon, it's £32.99. The price off the website for the mouse I want is £19.99. £14.99 on amazon. :headdesk:

Dunno how many of you read the Times or if this has been linked yet, but remember that whole thing about ultra-skinny models, and the magazines saying it's the designers and the designers saying it's the magazines?

It's the designers. Alexandra Shulman, UK editor of Vogue recently sent a letter to designers, telling them to stop sending such bloody small sample sizes, since they're having extreme difficulty trying to find models that're really underweight who'll fit those clothes made for apparent stick insects with no hips or breasts. They're having to photoshop the resulting pictures to make the models appear like they have *some* flesh on them. (it's worth reading all four links to get the varying bits - sadly, online doesn't have the comparison of original photo of catwalk vs. tweaked for magazine the print version did. You think the models in magazines look stupidly skinny. nothign compared to the famine victims on the catwalk.) Sure, the clothes that appear in the shops several months down the line from the debut come in (shock! horror!) size 12 and so on, but the stuff that goes down the catwalk and in the magazines is the sample collection.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6489368.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/janice_turner/article6488926.ece
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article6489243.ece
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article6489027.ece

Sadly, one of these articles points out that we're not going to get any result until someone of real major influence like Anna Wintour takes up the banner - and she's notorious for loving skinny, to the point that she looks unhealthy in real life.

stuffed. oww. Had restaurant indian for lunch (convinced because I most likely won't be eating tonight) and so very, very stuffed. I have no idea how people eat lunch as their main meal. How do you work when you've got a ridiculously full stomach and're also sleepy? (yours truly was brought up with evening meal as her main, so do not start preaching to me about how it's better to eat a big lunch than a big supper. It's what my body's used to.)

In other news, trying to decide which Daniel Boys late night cabaret-thingy (11pm, after the shows kick out) to go to.

there's two on consecutive nights with various cast members from other musicals next week, and one in aid of TheatreMad on sat 27th which is him, Julie Atherton and someone else doing American Songbook. decisions. I can only go to 2 max. fairyd123, you doing any?

Last night, did not end up going dancing class, as Jen was a victim of the evil buses ('Walk? In *these* shoes?') and didn't get to Soho until near on 7. In the meantime, I had managed to buy tickets for Priscilla, then have to change them for the previous night due to Pooks remembering her mum was coming down thursday, and then got a very cheap uneven trim (didn't go to Mr. Toppers, foolishly thought any cheap place wouldn't be too bad since I only wanted a trim). well, at least the split ends have gone and I can always neaten it up later.

As we were both hungry, we trawled a bit for something vaguely interesting, and ended up at the Indian Tapas place on Wardour St. Got the set meal they were doing 2-for-1 on and some rather interesting thyme lemonade and salty lime drinks (lemonade better as actual drink, salty lime went better with the meal) and OMG. Tasty, tasty heaven with medium spice levels and fabulous service. As jen put it, 'utterly unobtrusive but there when you want them'. The kind of waiters who check over your shoulder to see how you're doing and only intrude if the plates are empty. With the line of 'how spicy is the prawn stuff?' 'I have no idea, my tongue is currently in constant spice mode'. We left 'excellent' all over the comment card and then gushed in the comments. We have plans to drag other people there.

Working from home. Something about working from home - never mind how warm it is, toes always freeze.

Note to self. must buy ticket for one of the late night concerts mr. Boys is doing next week. Also, Torchwood ep 1 tomorrow at the BFI.

well, that was fun. caught the bus to work (and seem to have achieved miracle by getting on first bus I tried for according to everyone else) and then spent... over an hour sitting around watching walkers overtake the bus.

office nearly as empty as xmas due to most people working from home, but I have that dance class I really want to go to tonight. oh well.

Discovered that the reason my computer at work crashes so much is ...it's nearly 6 years old.

Taz, this is Diva

And this is I'm So Over Men.

Try not to laugh too much.

Bill Bailey most fun. large amounts of giggling going on, plus a tenori.

he's invented a new acronym, which we've decided must be spread amongst the internet world : ROFLYSST. Rolling on floor laughing yet still somehow texting.

Currently re-watching Princess Diaries for Chris Pine fix. Dear Kirk, do more romantic comedies. You're far too good at them.

Spent last night watching the entirety of North and South in one go. Dear Richard Armitage, stop *doing that* in the last ten minutes. Really.

Went out with girlies from work for Emma's birthday. Cocktail at the Nordic, then hie ourselves to the Roxy. Started with Emma, Lissy, Jellybean, Jen and Nicola. Lost Nicola after the Nordic. Added Abi at The Roxy, got there at about 8, went on the pitchers of sea breeze and some tequila thing that tasted like cheap margherita, then dancefloor. Way too much fun, v. silly, once again got the '...wow, you can move', cracked Jelly and Jen up with 'no, really, this is how you can get away with doing the Macarena, Saturday Night and the Hand Jive', then taught Jelly how to do bellydance shimmy (all in the knees). kept running into work people and previous work people. With that classic of 'My mate thinks he used to work with you.' 'Riiiiight.' 'he says he used to find you under your desk when you had a headache' 'Um. Possibly...' Go back to dancefloor, see tall and lanky bugger, bounce off the dancefloor and launch self at said feller in a hug, go back, get accused of tartishness. 'It was *James*. Louise's James?' 'Oh. Considering we've seen Charlie and Verity and Maria, that makes sense....' Danced selves silly. Apologised to the others for getting into a dance-off with two blokes who were painfully Jarvis Cocker-ing it, which meant they then stayed near us, did the slinky rebuff (you slink up, dance, and then dismiss him very obviously) of one middle-aged suit who'd been eyeing us up and dancing way too close for comfort, which got clapping from the rest. Left at 11. Me for the train home, them because their feet were aching.

Got across the road, started off for Tottenham Court Tube, then this bloke came careening out of the crowd, bounced off one girl's shoulder, and ran full-tilt into the girl flyering for the Roxy, slamming her into the Starbucks window, cracking it, then bouncing her head off the pavement. (seriously. it bounced. fortunately she stayed conscious throughout) I grabbed the back of his jacket as he started to run again, yelling 'What do you think you're doing', but his mate running after him pulled him out of my hand with a 'What do you think you're doing' and they ran off. Seriously. What the fuck? Meantime, a bunch of other clubbers were checking she was okay, I went back across the road to get help from the people at the Roxy, then it was kind of a case of everyone helping her into the Starbucks, them calling the ambulance and applying ice. Somehow I ended up being the one waiting with her for the police and ambulance since I was the only one who'd seen everything and was still there. Gave witness statement and details and then went off for the tube. Paramedics kept making jokes about getting free frappuccinos and showed me the lump on the back of her head. Size of a mars/galaxy egg. Not kidding.

And now I have a mild hangover that won't go away.

made the decision to finally get rid of the last few SGA comms I had on my flist. Feel a bit more cleansed.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1XIWXW25

This, children, is the song that turns me to wistful sap when *Gareth Gates* sings it. This is Danny Boys, who is a far better actor, singer, and fucking adorable. Shoo. Buy it from Dress Circle.

Anyone here watched Joseph King of Dreams? (dreamworks animation) Asking because Daniel Boys keeps singing one of the songs from it (You Know Better Than I) and I was wondering what the rest of the soundtrack is like, and can't find it on amazon.

Listening to Daniel Boys' album. :happy smile: oh shush. I haven't found one bad track yet*, and it's well produced. Though I now want Daniel to play Cinders against Oliver Tompsett's Martin Prince in Soho Cinders when it finally gets to the stage. I'm being incredibly shallow - I fucking adore the songs they've had so far, and Daniel can *act* and has, y'know, stage presence and doesn't have to be mic'd to the hilt unlike certain people :cough:. also, they'd be ridiculously pretty. Naomi, what's your considered opinion on Daniel's dancing skills?

Feeling antsy because I have this niggling feeling that I should be sewing, but have bugger all projects and no conventions coming up anytime soon. Maybe I should start coming up with ideas for Discworld 2010.

*famous last words. I didn't know I could flinch automatically at Michael Bublé tracks.

Been listening way too much to Soho Cinders. Which combined with flicking through old notebooks has resulted in me pondering which fairytale Jack and Ianto could be shoehorned into. The one I started plotting but never got anywhere with was Beauty and the Beast. :shrug: maybe that'll go somewhere one day.

:sings: 'No I can't do tricks with pumpkins/ No nor horses or white mice/ But who needs veg and vermin/ When you got me for half-price!'

'You shall go to the ball Cinderella/ In for a night of bliss/ Yes you shall go to the ball cinderella/ And then go with those pompous gits/ And get completely off your tits/ And see if that glass slipper fits!'

Watched Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker last night (a candy-coloured acid trip of WTF) and it had Brick Shithouse playing the Nutcracker (his night off from the lead when we went to see it, sulk). Now almost glad that we *didn't* see him play it live, because my brain was wailing WRONG WRONGWRONG from the first moment you see him. He was being naive and defenceless and innocent and sweet and it's SO WRONG. At no point was he being menacing, owning the stage, prowling across it, sexually harassing anyone from two rooms away and not even when he was bare-chested was he projecting fuck-me vibes.

:ponders the chances of him being in the touring Dorian Gray: He's currently in the ensemble of Dirty Dancing. Talk about a waste. Mind you, can't really figure out which character in Dorian Gray he'd be, since I can't quite see him as the photographer or Dorian, unless they were going for 'menacing bit of rough' rather than 'ridiculously pretty model-type' for Dorian. :kicks Matthew Bourne: The next one you create, more physically menacing bastards, please. Admittedly, Swan Lake is going back to Sadler's (and possibly touring after) for christmas, so fingers crossed.

This was Nano '08, aka what if the pevensies stayed at the end of prince Caspian.
Has been cleaned up a bit for spelling but that's it. expect repetition of tropes, unbelievable wordiness, and not a hint of a beta.
Forging a new age is never easy

Dammit. Girlie shopping last night, problem being that by the time we got to Topshop (the original reason for *going*) it was late enough that everyone else wanted to go home so I had to go in by self and couldn't get second opinion on dresses.

The style fits, they both look great, just can't decide on colour :

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=true&catalogId=19551&storeId=12556&categoryId=162922&parent_category_rn=42344&productId=1167170&langId=-1 - blue one
http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=true&catalogId=19551&storeId=12556&categoryId=162922&parent_category_rn=42344&productId=1186611&langId=-1 - yellow one

opinions?

'course, they all managed to find stuff that looked great on them in H&M. Dammit.

Today's Dilbert? Showed it to Lissy and she went 'have they been reading our emails?' :twitch: We have never used this excuse with latex files. never. ever.

Hee. Got an email with 'temp receptionist wanted', I pouted because it meant that ridiculously competent temp's time was up, asked office manager if this was true. it is, sadly, but it turns out ridiculously competent temp is now going full time in horribly understaffed HR. So that's some silver lining. (We've done it before, we'll do it again. it's a good way of trialling people.)

Tracklisting been revealed for Daniel Boys' album. (large amounts of what I suspect is cheese, I think it's unavoidable on musical theatre performers' solo albums. It's like a disease.) One of the ones listed is 'They Don't Make Glass Slippers' and I'm hoping like hell that it's the Stiles and Drewe one from Soho Cinders because it was a lovely song when Gareth Gates sang it, and Daniel is far more talented than the Gates boy.

Hmp. Does anyone know if any of those lash-curling mascaras work? The No.7 I'm using doesn't smudge *as much* as all the others, but I still get smudges due to having short eyelashes. Lash curlers make them look really bloody odd and bent.

Oh good god. Not another american article on the trend of twenty-somethings getting tattoos. Besides the fact that your observations are about ten years out of date - tattoos being commonplace started in the late nineties, you're still trotting out that tired and completely out of touch line about tattoos being about rebellion and trying to be individual, and 'there's so many of them trying to be individual that it makes them an amorphous mass'. Flying Spaghetti Monster give me strength. Getting inked is about decoration or personal meaning. it always has been, and you're a fucking nitwit if you're getting it for rebellion. I think the last people to do it for effect were punks. (middle-class art students rebelling for effect and attention)

in the blue corner, we have another short story in the Thin Veneer of Civility 'verse, ie, Edmund and Peter get called up for National Service. This time from their dad's pov, who's heard a few stories about his sons and is somewhat disturbed. Been hanging around in various snippet forms for a while, suddenly got a few legs last night.

in the red corner, a snippet-fic expanded from a note I had in Nano planning, 'what if they stayed at the end of PC' 'verse (Susan married Caspian as a sign of union, and it's public knowledge that Edmund is Bacchus' favourite. That's all the background you need.). The Tisroc is pondering an alliance marriage. (Narnia starting to look like an up and comer, Calormen has very good records of the Pevensies being scary bastards, trade, peace offering, influence, etc) Specifically, son #5, the scholar to Edmund, since Edmund is pretty much the most neutral choice and heirs are 99% likely to come from Susan+Caspian or Peter. Almost completely for the lulz and people going 'aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!' and written in snippets so far.

everyone in fandom knows that the main pairing was Kirk/Spock. *Duh*. However, in reboot 'verse, Kirk/McCoy is seriously rivalling it.

So, query from a person who never read the old skool fic, and only casually watched an ep here and there of TOS. (mostly in hotel rooms, it seems) Was there any support/obviousness for Kirk/Bones in TOS? of course they got slashed - as everyone knows, the slasher's first defence is 'Were they in the same scene? The same film/show? THEY CAN BE SLASHED.' Not to mention, I have vague memories of Bones being a bit gruff and ratty. How does his character compare with new Bones?

Seriously, there has got to be a way to angle the conversation away from a lecture on cheating, unfaithfulness, relationship angst, etc, etc at lunch. conversation even goes slightly towards that and we get the lecture. maybe next time I should take along the recording device, and if they start it up again, I hit 'play' to drown them out. Just because your parents are screwed up when it comes to relationships does not mean you have to go into a complete diatribe with added references to your deadbeat dads. Them. Not you. And it's the same one every time.

My other option being to put the headphones in and ask them to say when they've finished. Or get up and leave. Impolite, maybe, but less grating on my eardrums and would enable us to get out in the sun faster, because the two who do it most slow down their eating to do the lecture. We have other stuff to do.

it is the Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May.

When the proletariat will rise in the name of Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably-Priced Love and a Hard-Boiled Egg.

Wear your lilac with pride and don't forget your towel.

This revolutionista spent her lunchtime down by the river, paddling, eating icecream, sniggering at the stupid names on boats* and going '...That's a lot of buttercups.'

*seriously, barges don't tend to have stupid names. What's with the big expensive white things?

there comes a time in every sunbather's afternoon when they must retreat inside and apply the aftersun.

by that you may have figured what i spent the afternoon doing. No sign of redness yet.

Got amused by the assertion in the fashion pages that 'pale skinned people don't look that great in white or yellow - go for beige, nude, peach, etc'. Which are precisely the colours that do horrible things to me. This pale-skinned blonde looks good in white and yellow and orange, preferably the strong shades, mmkay?

Pulled out my somewhat ancient camo jacket (from teens and uni years, when you could normally guarantee I'd be wearing some army surplus on my person). was folding it up to put on a shelf rather than taking up hanging space when i realised there was something in the pockets. Rootling produced a tampax, a comics reservation slip, masking tape and a roll of unused film. Now there's a way to carbon-date it in my life. Shows I haven't worn it since the end of uni.

First issue of the day : BNP flyer stock photo fail. Point and laugh *loudly*, people, because public humiliation and derision are the best way to fight racist fuckheads.

Brought to you by 'this *needs* to be used in a B-Movie' : My uncle is keeping bees on top of Newcastle Fenwicks. Have images of him directing them to attack people on high st. (Fenwicks : big dept store. Uncle pointed out that other swanky dept stores have their own brands of honey, so they're trying it out.)

Forbury last night for Dad's birthday : omnomnomnomnom. large amount of Cornish fish on the menu. also, classic moments of ordering : mum going 'I'd like the brownie but can I have it without the brownie - just the chocolate sauce and a scop of vanilla ice cream.'

Registration for the 2010 Discworld Con is now open. All of you laggards who were thinking about it and keep failing to register in previous years, your mission should you choose to accept it...

:sigh: Have been spoilt. This job? my first real office job, and thus first working experience of receptionist and office managers. We moved offices a month or so ago when we got bought, and got all-new receptionist and office manager since the old ones stayed at the previous building. We now find out that our previous ones were super-efficient mindreadering pros and we'll probably not seek their like again.

Listening to the Lady Gaga album to see if I want to buy it. so far, all the tracks that aren't singles sound like a cross between middling Gwen Stefani, Alphabeat and Aqua. Which is a bit odd since the singles sound *nothing* like that. What happened, did they just do major remixes to get them up to standard? I know she got 'discovered' as a singer by Akon when they were writing for someone else. Might be worth seeing what she used to look like, and what the stuff she wrote for Fergie et al sounded like. She might be another Sam Sparro - Black and Gold the single and video were clearly hit with a tonne of cash, stylists and re-mixers when you compare his previous stuff.

Topshop? EVIL. Walked in last night, saw an intensely cute dress of 'possibly', go on the website and they have more cute dresses. including the first one in two other colours. Problem being that local shop doesn't have them and it's impossible to find anything in the Oxford St branch. Gahhhh. On the other hand, I now have new cute practical *leather* sandals for £16. (my current emergency New Look semi-gladiators, though cute, constantly have the back strap sliding down my heel and they're completely plastic, and feel it.) Noticed a new trend in sandals - only saw gladiators in a couple of places - the new trend appears to be the Roman soldier style where the sole comes up the sides and the laces go through that.

Reading The Devil Wears Prada. How does the film compare?

Dear womb, ow. that is all.

Trying to remember who it was wanted to see Priscilla - there's a ticket offer on right now where they're knocking £20 off the top price tickets. june 15th onwards, weekday night. er.... how the hell do you search facebook?

Barrowman's been announced for Albin in La Cage Aux Folles in Sept. Currently listening to the Douglas Hodges-Denis Lawson version and.... okay, my squee level is ridiculously high for this, I won't deny it. But I seriously think he'd be better as Georges. Mostly because though I have utter confidence in him being able to act it, and he'll kill the 'I Am What I Am' scene at the end of Act 1, Albin is meant to be very middle-aged. He's wearing the corset for a *reason*. See dialogue for general idea :

'There comes a time in every Salome's life when she should no longer be dropping the last veil.'

Not fucking gorgeous, square-jawed, toned and limber as hell - which is a pretty decent depiction of Georges. Not to mention the scene in the second act where Albin appears in a suit and is supposed to be completely withdrawn, no confidence, looking godawful in said suit and.... No, I'm going to have to see it to believe that Barrowman can pull that off. Graham Norton? no problem. (kinda wish I'd seen him play Albin now)

I've probably ranted on this topic before. But yeah, still having problems.

http://tinyurl.com/olkvxg - some pages from Brian Wood's Northlanders #17, the viking comic that talks about armour. gmh, silly_swordsman, here you go. And gmh, go and buy Crecy.

I has two. first come first served.